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MEXICO 




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THE UNITED STATES: 



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WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 



BY A CITIZEN OF CALIFOBNIA. 




SAN FRANCISCO: 

[I. H. BANCROFT AND COMPANY 

1866. 




MEXICO 



THE UNITED STATES: 



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WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY A CITIZEN OF CALIFOKlSttA. 



SAN FRAN CISCO: 
H. H. BANCROFT AND COMPANY. 

1866. 



L/^£>3 o/ 



Mexico and the United States 

AN AMERICAN VIEW OF THE MEXICAN QUESTION, WITH 

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INTERESTS 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 



During more than two centuries Mexico was ruled by Spain, 
and for the benefit of Spain exclusively. No foreign vessel was 
permitted to enter a Mexican port, and for a long time Cadiz 
and Manila had the exclusive privilege of sending ves- 
sels to Vera Cruz and Acapulco, the only two ports which then 
were open to trade. No foreigner could enter the country 
without special permission from the King. The Spanish Gov- 
ernment not only required her colonies to obtain all their im- 
ports from Spain, but forbade the manufacture of many articles 
in Mexico. All these impediments, however, were overcome 
by the immense wealth of that privileged ground. The country 
began, in the latter half of the last century, to* gain rapidly in 
population and business, and the prospect of its future progress 
went on brightening from year to year. The annual produc- 
tion of silver rose to $25,000,000, and there were one hundred 
and seventy births for one hundred deaths. All the branches 
of industry were being developed, and Spain, convinced of her 
past error, had relinquished and abrogated many of the re- 
strictions which weighed over the native Mexicans, giving them 
ample scope to compete with the sons of the mother country ; 
in fact, we may say that Mexico was then enjoying prosperity. 
The finances were in a flourishing condition, the revenue of 
the Government amounted to $20,500,000, whilst all the ex- 
penses of the administration were hardly $10,000,000, leav- 



ing a balance of over $10,500,000, which was dedicated to the 
expenses of the Home Government — this, too, whilst the Colo- 
nial Government was obliged to sustain an army of 81,000 
men. But there came a change over this peaceful state of 
affairs. The rebellion against the Spanish authority broke out 
in 1810, and was suppressed after nine years of civil war. In 
1821 there was another rebellion, which, headed by Iturbide, 
was successful, and the colony of New Spain became the Em- 
pire of Mexico. "With this change, the revenue came down as 
if by magic to $9,500,(00, whilst the disbursements amounted 
to $14,000,000. The power of Spain once overthrown, the 
leading men, who were profoundly ignorant of the business in 
which they were engaged, and dazzled by the example of the 
American Union, undertook to establish a Federal Republic, 
consisting of a number of States, each of which styled itself 
" sovereign and independent." There were no officers familiar 
with the practice of such government, the people had no com- 
prehension of their rights and duties ; there was no well organ- 
ized industry and commerce, with influence enough to maintain 
order, and there was not the popular education which is the 
only secure foundation for free institutions. 

NO POPULAR ELECTIONS. 

The result was political disorder, and a total disregard for 
individual as well as national rights. Then civil war, which 
became chronic, trained men to habits of rapine and murder, 
enabled them to commit crime with impunity by pretending to 
punish the enemies of the Government, and deprived the civil 
officers of authority and of the means of enforcing the laws. For 
forty years the Government was in name and in name alone a 
Republic. The use of that appellation was a false pretence, an 
abuse of language, an indication of what the best men of the 
country hoped to reach, but never succeeded in reaching. In 
no kingdom of Europe has monarchy or despotism ever pro- 
duced such baneful results as have been produced in Mexico 
by anarchy during the last forty years. It is the theory and 
practice of American republicanism that the people select their 
rulers at brief intervals ; it is the fact of Mexican history that 
not one ruler has ever been selected by the people. The army 



has been the ruling power ; its favorites have been the Presi- 
dents ; its choice has been indicated not at the ballot box, but 
at the cannon's mouth. It was an army not made up of intelli- 
gent, reputable citizens, who volunteered from patriotic mo- 
tives, who were well disciplined, well paid, faithful in their 
service and regardful of the property of their fellow 
citizens, but a band of pressed men, often drawn from the 
prison cells — the basest and most ignorant of the country, 
undisciplined, unpaid, ill dressed, supported by plunder, and 
always ready to desert to a hostile standard if better pros- 
pects, greater license or more booty are promised to them. 
Civil war prevailed almost without interruption, and with war 
went brigandism and lawlessness. The courts were almost 
powerless. The popular elections which were to be held, in 
theory, were never held in fact. Peaceable citizens had no 
voice in the selection of their rulers. The Presidents were 
nearly all Generals, who took office by usurpation, and held it 
by force. But as the elements of their support were made of 
the same material, the usurpers never had the power to main- 
tain themselves. In less than a year, on an average, they were 
ejected to make room for somebody else, 

LIST OF ADMINISTRATIONS. 

In the forty years of so-called Republican Government, from 
1823 to 1863, there were fifty-four different administrations, 
averaging eight months and twenty-seven days each. The 
following is a list of these administrations : 

( Bravo, "| 
Executive Powers Triumvirate -| Victoria, I April 1, 1823, 

(Negrete; J 

G. Victoria October 1, 1824. 

f V. Guerre ro April 1, 1829. 

J. M Bo.ianegra December 18, 1829. 

The Triumvirate, Velez & Co December 23, 1829. 

A. Bustamente June 1, 1830. 

M. Muzquiz August 18, 1832. 

G. Pedraza December 24, 1832, 

Santa Anna April 1, 1833. 

V. Gomez Farias • May 17, 1833. 

A. Santa Anna October 21, 1833. 

V. Gomez Farias December 15, 1833. 

• A. Santa Anna April 24, 1834. 

* The * means that the President held power under a consolidated republic ; 
the f indicates that the head of the administration had dictatorial powers. 



6 

U. Barragan January 28. 1835. 

Jose J. Corro February 27, 1836. 

*A. Bustamente April 19, 1837. 

*A. Santa Anna March 18, 1839. 

*N. Bravo July 10, 1839. 

*A. Bustamente July 17, 1839. 

*S. Bcheverria September 22, 1841. 

fA. Santa Auua October 10, 1841. 

fN. Bravo October 26, 1842. 

fA. Santa Anna March 5, 1843. 

fV. Canalizo October 4, 1843. 

A. Santa Anna June 4, 1844. 

V. Canalizo S ptember 20, 1844. 

*J. S. Herrera .December 6, 1844. 

*M. Paredes January 4, 1846. 

*N. Bravo July 29, 1846. 

M. Salas August 5, 1846. 

V. Gomez Farias December 24, 1846. 

A. Santa Auna March 21, 1847. 

P. M. Anaya April 2, 1847. 

A. Santa Anna May 20, 1847. 

M. Pena y Pefia September 26, 1847. 

P. M. Anaya November 12, 1847. 

M. Pefiay Pena January 8, 1848. 

J. Herrera June 3, 1848. 

M. Arista January 15, 1851. 

fJ. B. Ceballos January 5, 1853. 

fM. M. Lombardini February 7, 1853. 

A. Santa Anna. April 20, 1853. 

M. Carrera * August 15, 1855. 

J. Alvarez October 4, 1855. 

Ignacio Comonfort December 11, 1855. 

Ignacio Comonfort December 1, 1857. 

*Ignacio Comonfort December 17, 1857. 

Benito Juarez January 14, 1858. 

*F. Zuloaga January 23, 1858. 

*M.Robles December 23, 1858. 

*F. Zuloaga : Jauuary 4, 1859. 

*M Miramon January 13, 1859. 

S. G.Ortega . October 25, 1861. 

Benito Juarez January 11, 1862. 

LIST OF CONSTITUTIONS. 

The following is a list of the various constitutions or de- 
clarations, altering or overthrowing constitutions, with the 
dale and authorship of each : 

Acta Coustitutiva Jauuary 1, 1824. . . .Congress. 

Constitucion October 4, 1824. . . .Congress. 

Plan de Zavaleta. . December — , 1832. Santa Anna. 

Ley Constilucional December 15, 1835. Congress. 

LeyesConstitucionales December 29, 1836. Congress. 

Bases de Tacubaya September 28, 1841. Santa Anna. 

Plan of Huexotzingo December 11, 1842. Citizens of Huexotzingo. 

Base de Organisacion June 12, 1843 Junta de Notables. 

Plan de San Luis Dtcember 14, 1845. M. Pandes. 

Plan de Guadalajara May 20, 1846 Garrison of Guadalajara. 

Plan de Ciudadela August 4, 1846. .. .Gen. Salas. 

Acta de E,eformas ^.May 18,1847 Congress.- 



Plan de Jalisco . October 20, 1852. . .Garrison of Guadalajara. 

Conveuio de Arroyozarco February 4, 1853. . .Gen; Uraga and Col. Robles. 

Bases para la Administracion. .April 22, 1853 Santa Anna. 

Plan de Ayutla March 1, 1854 Col. Villareal. 

Plan de Ayutla Relorniada. . . .March 11, 1854. . . . Ygnacio Comonfort. 

Estatuto Organico May 15, 185(> Ygnacio Comonfort. 

Constitucion de 1857 February 5, 1857. . .Congress. 

Plan de Tacubaya December 17, 1857. Gen. Zuloaga. 

Plan de Tacubaya Reformada. .January 12, 1858. . .Gen. Parra. 

Leyes de Reforma — : , 1859 .... Juarez" and Cabinet. 

This list shows that there have been twenty different changes, 

more or less radical, in the Constitution within forty years — 

one every alternate year on an average. 

GOVERNORS AND CONGRESSMEN APPOINTED. • 

In the Governorships of the so-called States there was more 
stability, but not more republicanism than in the Presidency. 
No man has been strong enough to hold the latter more than 
three years since 1830, whereas the Governors usually have 
held power much longer — extending in some cases almost to 
life. Alvarez in Guerrero, Vega in Sinaloa, Gandara andPes- 
queira in Sonora, and Vidaurri in Nuevo Leon, are examples. 
Men often obtained sufficient influence to control a State for a 
long period, but they failed if they attempted to control the 
whole country. The power of the Governors (like that of the 
Pashas of Turkey,) has not in any case been based on popular 
election. The chief military man in the State usually took the 
office ; perhaps he would receive an appointment from the 
President, or perhaps disregard absolutely that formality. 

There was a nominal Congress, composed of representatives 
of the States, but the Congressmen, instead of being elected by 
the people, were appointed by the Governor, or by the President. 
They were, therefore, invariably the mere tools of the latter 
who always had at his command an army ready and willing 
to disperse his enemies, or silence his antagonists. 

If the President did not like an Act of Congress no atten- 
tion was paid to it. The judicial department of the Govern- 
ment occupied a very low position. Instead of being the guar- 
dian of the Constitution, the Supreme Court was the servant 
'of the Executive. The spirit of constitutional liberty, the 
knowledge of constitutional rights and the sense of constitu- 
tional obligations, were lacking everywhere, and without these 



republicanism is impossible in any case, time or place. And 
is it still to be maintained, with the facts before us, that Mex- 
ico is fit for a Republican Government ? 

SLOW INCREASE OF POPULATION. 

It is but logical to presume that the results of such con- 
tinuous turmoil 'have been most disastrous to the increase of 
population, particularly to the male portion, which forms the 
nucleus of strength in all countries. This assertion is fully 
carried out and sustained by the facts. In 1793, according to 
Humboldt, there were 5,270,000 Mexicans ; in 1862, there 
were 8,465,000, showing a gain of 60 per cent ; whereas the 
population of the United States advanced from 3,929,827 in 
1790, to 31,443,332 in 1860— an increase of more than 700 per 
cent. It is a well known fact to all who have visited the 
country, that there arc to-day extensive districts in which 
there are twice as many women as men, the latter having been 
killed in civil strife. Ruin and misery wherever the visitor 
turns his eye sustain the assertion. 

EDUCATION. 

Popular education and intelligence, which are the only secure 
basis for free institutions, are lacking in Mexico. In 1842, 
according to Brantz Mayer, only 687,000 out of 7,000.000 
could read, or about one in ten, whereas of the native born 
Americans about 90 in 100 can read. In 1844, the children 
attending school in Mexico were one-thirty-seventh part of the 
population ; in the United States, in 1860, they were one-fifth. 
In 1844, Mexico had forty-four periodicals, or six for a million 
of inhabitants, and in 1860 the American periodicals numbered 
4,051, or 700 for a million. If we have given no statistics on 
Mexican education later than 1844, it is because we are unable 
to find any, nor do we think any could be found anywhere, but 
if there be any later they would surely not show any change 
of note for the better. 

PRESENT INDUSTRY. 

The industrial position of the country is very low. The 
only finished railroad worthy of mention is but twenty 



9 

miles long, and there is not one canal constructed since 1821. 
Wagon roads are few, and even those are of the remains of 
Spanish enterprise ; wagons, except on routes between the 
principal cities, are rarely seen. Merchandise is transported 
chiefly on mule back, at great expense of money and time. 
The high cost of freight implies a very small consumption of 
foreign goods, and a small production of domestic articles for 
exportation. The majority of the people live in the rudest 
manner. Their houses are built of adobes or sticks ; the 
roofs are made of thatch or tiles, and the earth serves as a 
floor. Glass windows, carpets, tables, chairs and bedsteads 
are the luxuries of the few. The wardrobe of the men is 
usually confined to a shirt, a pair of trowsers, a hat, a pair of 
sandals, and a zarape that serves as a cloak by day and as a 
blanket by night. The common dress of women of the lower 
classes is composed of a chemise and petticoat, and when they 
leave the house they wrap a couple of yards of cheap cloth 
round the head and shoulders as a rebozo or shawl. Altogether 
we can safely estimate that on an average the amount of all 
the expense for wearing apparel of the pueblo does not exceed 
$25 a year for one person. 

GENERAL IDLENESS. 

Idleness has become a prominent feature of the national 
character. It is not the result of the climate, for the richest 
and most populous portion of the country, though within the 
tropics, is cool, in consequence of high elevation, above the 
sea. The summers are cooler and the winters are warmer in 
the cities of Mexico, Guanajuato and Zacatecas than in Phila- 
delphia, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Idleness with the Mexicans 
is not the result of hereditary disposition, for the ancient 
Aztecs were an industrious people, and so are the poorer class 
of Spaniards in Spain. It is the result of bad government, which 
left the people without education, made no roads, did not pro- 
tect either life or property, gave no encouragement to industry, 
plundered the merchant and man of wealth and destroyed the force of 
public opinion and the sense of public justice. In the United 
States, even among the poorest, a man must work and be as 
cleanly in his dress as his labors will permit, and keep within 



10 

bounds of propriety and virtue, or lie is ostracised by common 
consent. In Mexico it is different. Idleness and depravity are 
not as a general rule under the ban of society. They have been 
made part of the customs of the country, not by natural inclina- 
tion, but by a continuation of misrule. Let us not be misunder- 
stood. We intend to throw no stigma or slander on the people ; 
far from it, as we have in our own intercourse with them wit- 
nessed many a noble and generous trait of character, but how 
can it be otherwise when corruption is fostered by the leaders 
of the Government? When virtue is made to bow before the 
desires of any petty chieftain, and often to pay the ransom for 
an aged father or a brother ? Such has been the case in many 
places within our observation, as for instance in Sinaloa, 
Guerrero and Jalisco. The fact exists, but the causes are to be 
assigned not to the nature of the people, but to the influences of 
the few. 

COMMERCE. 

Commerce cannot flourish without peace, security and indus- 
try, and as the last three are wanting in Mexico, so the first 
languishes. In all peaceful, civilized countries there is a reg- 
ular increase of trade ; in Mexico there is none, or so little 
that it scarcely deserves notice. Macgregor in his Commer- 
cial Statistics, published in 1850, says : " The commerce of 
Mexico has been diminishing for the last eighteen years." 
According to Humboldt, the annual imports of the country at 
the beginning of this century were $15,000,000, and the exports 
$22,000,00C. Lerdo de Tejada reported that the imports in 
1856 were $26,000,000, and the exports $28,000,000. These 
iigures are larger than those given for later years by other 
authorities, but still they are far below what they should be if 
Mexico were completely civilized and prosperous. Half the 
value of the imports consists of cheap cotton and woolen 
cloths, for the simplest garments of 8,000,000 people, showing 
a very small consumption of those substances required in me- 
chanics and manufactures. Of the exports, three-fourths are 
silver and the remaining one-fourth is made up almost exclu- 
sively of articles produced with little labor, and without any 
high mechanical skill. The official report on the Commerce 



11 

and Navigation of the United States shows that the chief im- 
ports from Mexico, in 1860, exclusive of precious metals, were 
the following : 

Hides and Skins $535,062 

Animals 180,935 

Cotton Goods 173,347 

Dye Wood 161,113 

Guano 115,369 

Mahogany and other timber 111,780 

Brown Sugar '. 55,233 

Sarsaparilla 47.127 

Cochineal 39,258 

Straw Hats and Bonnets 26,894 

Earthenware 26,455 

Sisal Hemp 25,114 

Salt 22,555 

Vanilla Beans. 20,738 

The cotton goods in the above list were of European or 
American manufacture, and were reshipped because they were 
either unsuited to the market or a better price could be ob- 
tained elsewhere. 

COMPAEISON OF EXPORTS. 

Let us now make a table of the exports of the leading civil- 
ized countries, and see how they compare with those of Mexico : 

Annual Export Total 

per person. Annual Export. Population. 

California $97 00 $44,000,000 450,000 

Victoria 83 00 50,000,000 600,000 

Great Britain 40 00 1,100,000,000 27,000,000 

Cuba 16 00 25.000,000 1.500,000 

United States 1100 330,000,000 30,000,000 

Chile 10 00 18.000,000 1,800.000 

Belgium 9 00 40,000,000 4.300.000 

France 8 00 297,000,000 35,000,000 

Spain 9 00 ' 120,000,000 14.000,000 

Mexico 3 00 28,000,000 8,465,000 

In this list California, Victoria, Cuba, Chile and Mexico 
hold a much higher position than those to which they are en- 
titled as commercial countries. Most of their trade is foreign, 
while the internal trade of the chief commercial nations is 
proportionately much larger. Iron, coal, cotton, wool, hemp, 
lead, tobacco, rice, sugar, grain, and manufactures of various 
kinds, are each produced in the American Union by different 
districts, which then exchange their products with one another. 
And the same remark is true of France and Great Britain, but 
not of Mexico, which should be compared with countries which 



12 

produce the precious metals and import nearly all their iron, 
cotton, wool, and such manufactures as require the investment 
of much capital and the labor of a large number of skillful 
mechanics. 

The annual exportation, exclusive of treasure, from Mexico, 
is $6,000,000 ; from California, $13,000,000. 

The amount of exports from the United States, in 1863, to 
certain other countries, was as follows : 

England $160,056,956 

British America « „ 31,281,040 

France 17.150,299 

Cuba 15,053,293 

Ireland 14.659.439 

Mexico 9,072,212 

The statistics of San Francisco contain the following figures 
for the tonnage of the vessels which arrived in 1865 from Van- 
couver Island and British Columbia, the Hawaiian Islands and 
Mexico, and the amount of money paid to them as freight on 
their cargoes : 

Tonnage Inward. Freight. 

Vancouver Island and British Columbia.. 46,125 $102,000 

Hawaiian Islands 18,390 65,000 

Mexico 26,323 24,200 

These figures enable us to appreciate the industrial and 
commercial condition of Mexico. They, therefore, cannot but 
attract the especial attention of all whose interest may direct 
them to that heretofore distracted country. The exports con- 
sist chiefly of hides, dye wood, lumber, guano, and other arti- 
cles which are produced without industry or labor. The annual 
exports amount to only $3 00 for each person, whilst they 
amount to $97 for each inhabitant in California, $83 in Vic- 
toria (Australia), $10 in Chile, $40 in Great Britain, $11 in 
the United States, and $8 in France, though the three last 
named countries have a large interior trade, whereas Mexico 
has not. 

When we compare the annual exports, exclusive of treasure, 
from California and Mexico, we perceive that the former shows 
an average of $20 for each inhabitant, and the latter less than 
$1. The United States exports relatively five times more to 
England, seven times more to Cuba^and seven times more to 
Canada than to Mexico. Pacific British America has a popu- 



13 

lation of about 20.000, and the Hawaiian Kingdom of about 
70,000, and yet each has more commerce with San Francisco 
than Mexico, with all its millions. 

GREAT NATURAL RESOURCES. 

Republican Mexico in the commercial world has been almost 
a desert ; in the financial world, almost a nuisance. It offered 
little profit to trade, little security to capital. It did not con- 
tribute its share to the wealth of other nations, it did not pro- 
tect the foreigner who visited its borders. And yet the country 
is peculiarly fitted by nature to grow rich. It has unsurpassed 
agricultural, commercial and mineral resources. It has all 
climates and all soils. No other land can produce cotton, rice, 
sugar, coffee, tobacco, wheat, maize, the apple, the grape, the 
orange, the olive and the banana with more advantage. No 
other country has a coast line so long absolutely and relatively 
to the total area. Two oceans bathe its shores, and the 
narrow territory in the southern portions offers peculiar 
facilities for an easy and quick transit between the Atlantic 
and the Pacific. There are excellent harbors and everything 
needed for the establishment of a most flourishing commerce- 
save the government, until now. But the chief wealth of Mex- 
ico lies in the silver mines, from which $2,500,000,000 have 
been taken, without exhausting them or even reducing the pro- 
ductive mineral resources. All authors of the best books 
that treat of mining in Mexico, agree that the silver yield 
would increase greatly if the mines were in possession of a 
nation capable of bringing them to the highest state of devel- 
opment. This assertion is fully sustained by the fact that even 
in the short space of a year since the interior States have been 
in peaceful possession of the Empire, we notice a rapid in- 
crease. For instance, according to the official reports pub- 
lished in Mexico, in 1865, three mints only, Mexico, Zacatecas 
and Guanajuato, coined during the year $13,696,000, whereas, 
we have seen that previously the whole export of the country, 
according to Lerdo de Tejada, did not exceed $22,000,000. 

VAST MINERAL WEALTH. ■ 

Humboldt says he is " tempted to believe that Europeans have 



14 

scarcely begun to profit by the inexhaustible fund of wealth 
contained in the New World. Europe would be inundated 
with the precious metals if the deposits of ore at Bolanos, 
Batopilas, Sombrerete, Rosario, Pachuca, Moran, Zultepec, 
Chihuahua, and so many other places that enjoyed an ancient 
and just celebrity, were assailed at one and the same time with 
all the means offered by the perfection to which the art of the 
miner has [attained." Duport says, " the deposits that have 
been worked for three centuries are nothing to those that 
remain to be explored. The time will come, a century sooner 
or a century later, when the production of silver will have no 
other limit than that imposed by the always augmenting de- 
crease in its value." 

The opinion of Ward is given in the following passages : 
" That the great mineral treasures of Mexico commence ex- 
actly at the point where Humboldt rightly states the labors of 
the Spaniards to have terminated (above latitude 24 degrees) 
is a fact now universally admitted by the native miners,' 
although hitherto but little known in Europe. (Vol. I, p. 127.) 

" The States of Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa 
contain an infinity of mines, hitherto but little known, but 
holding out, wherever they have been tried, a promise of riches 
superior to anything that Mexico has yet produced. * 
* * In common, I believe with all those who have had 

an opportunity of inquiring into the resources of New Spain, 
I do regard it as so well ascertained a fact that her mineral 
riches are almost unexplored that I am willing to rest upon it 
my whole calculation with regard to her future importance as 
a country." (lb. p. 160.) 

Humboldt, Duport and- Ward are the highest authorities, 
and have given us the best books on the mineral wealth of 
Mexico. 

ONE STEP FROM INFANCY TO DECREPITUDE. 

But natural resources, however rich, cannot be properly de- 
veloped without peace, order, security, good roads, regular, 
cheap and speedy communication, and freedom from unwise 
restrictions. Unfortunately Mexico has been lacking in all 
these, and for the lack during the last half century the repub- 



15 

lican anarchy is chiefly responsible. Alaman, the ablest histo- 
rian and statesman of Mexico, in his history of the country, 
says : " When we see this immense loss of territory within a 
few years [109945 square leagues — more than half of the 
original area, which was 216,012 square leagues], this ruin of 
the public treasury leaving behind it a grievous debt, this 
destruction of a brave and well trained army, and above all, 
this total extinction of public spirit and of every idea of a 
national character — when we see a nation that has passed from 
infancy to decrepitude without having enjoyed the vigor of 
youth, or shown any signs of life save violent convulsions, it 
seems that we must admit, with the great Bolivar, that inde- 
pendence has been bought at the price of all the benefits pos- 
sessed by Spanish America while in the colonial condition." 
(Historia, Vol. V, p. 904.) 

MONARCHY THE ONLY HOPE. 

The evil, however, was not in the independence but in the 
Federal Republicanism, for which the people were not fitted. 
All the wisest men of the country have long been hoping for 
the establishment of a monarchy. Presidents Herrera, Parecles, 
Santa Anna, Gen. Almonte, and Gutierrez Estrada all were in 
favor of a monarchy. Alaman, who was Minister of Foreign 
Relations under the Republican Government, and who, there- 
fore, had strong motives for not speaking very directly against 
that form, says : " The conclusions drawn from the unquestion- 
able facts, and having all the vigor and force of mathematical 
demonstrations, are these : that the political institutions of the 
nation are not those that are required for its prosperity." 
(Vol. V, p. 923.) Again he says : " There are many who de- 
spair of ever making* a reform to satisfy those who consider it 
necessary. To cure the ills of the nation, we must not repeat 
those experiments which have heretofore been tried without 
success." (pp. 927-8.) 

Gutierrez Estrada, one of the most eminent Mexicans, Sen- 
ator and Minister of Foreign Affairs, after expressing his 
opinions in public debate, that the monarchical form of govern- 
ment, with a Prince of royal, blood at its head, was the best 
adapted to the traditions, necessities and interests of the peo- 



16 

pie, thus said, in a letter written in 1840, to Gen. Bustamente, 
then President of Mexico : " After reviewing our past misfor- 
tunes, what does the future offer ? I repeat that the moment 
has arrived in which the nation must turn its hopes towards the 
monarchical principle as the only means capable of bringing 
back to us the blessings of peace, for which we so ardently 
pray," 

Thus both condemn a Central Republic, Federal Republic, 
and Dictatorship, and nothing remains but monarchy, which, 
as all wise men perceive, is the only salvation of the country. 
But there was no one in Mexico strong enough to hold the 
crown on his head, since, as Alaman says, " all public spirit 
and idea of national honor had been extinguished." 

A MONARCH INVITED IN 1854. 

A party, therefore, among the better and wealthier Mexi- 
cans were engaged for many years in efforts to establish a mon- 
archy, with some European Prince upon the throne. This 
party was repeatedly in power, but some obstacle always stood 
in the way of the realization of their plans. The following 
document shows how far the party had advanced at one time : 

" Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Major General, etc., etc., 
etc., and President of the Mexican Republic, 

" Greeting : Whereas, I have been authorized by the Mexi- 
can nation to organize it under that form of government which 
I might believe best fitted to secure its territorial integrity 
and national independence in the most advantageous and stable 
manner, according to the absolute powers with which I am in- 
vested ; and, whereas, no government can be better suited to a 
nation than that to which it has been accustomed for centuries 
and under which it has formed its peculiar customs ; 

" Therefore, and to attain that purpose, having confidence in 
the patriotism, the intelligence and the zeal of Senor Don 
Jose Maria Gutierrez de Estrada, I confer upon him by these 
presents the complete power needful, so that he may enter into 
arrangements with and make the proper proposals to the Courts 
of London, Paris, Madrid and Vienna, to obtain from all those 
governments, or from either of them, the establishment of a 



11 

monarchy in Mexico, derived from one of the royal families of 
those Courts, under the terms and conditions which may be 
established by special instructions. 

" In faith of which I have issued these presents, signed by 
my hand, authorized by the seal of the nation, and counter- 
signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, all under the proper 
reserve, in the National Palace of Mexico, on the 1st day of 
.July, 1854. 

A. L. de Santa Anna. 

This commission was no doubt presented to the Courts of 
Britain, France, Spain and Austria, at the time, but for some 
reason nothing came of it. The monarchical party in Mexico 
accused Santa Anna of betraying them and of intending to put 
the crown on his own head, so he was allowed to fall. The 
commission, however, was never revoked, and Estrada did not 
neglect his duties. In October, 1861, he wrote to Santa Anna, 
then in the Island of St. Thomas, about the allied expedition 
to Mexico, and expressed a hope that the result would be the 
elevation of Maximilian to the throne. On the 30th of No- 
vember of the same year, Santa- Anna replied, saying that he 
was delighted with the prospect of the salvation of his country 
and that there could be no better choice than that of Maxi- 
milian. 

These facts show that the establishment of an Empire, with 
Maximilian at the head of it, is not a new idea with the Mexi- 
cans, and that it was fully authorized twelve years ago by the 
head of the Mexican Government, and at that time full notice 
was given to the Government of the United States of the intended 
change. 

When Juarez was driven from the capital, the Mexican mon- 
archists and representatives of the different States, convened 
in full assembly, decided — as it was within the limits of their 
sovereign right — to carry out their long projected change, and 
invite Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, a descendant of the 
very same Charles the Fifth who formerly ruled over the 
country, to become Emperor. He accepted the invitation, en- 
tered Mexico in 1864, and has now been ruler of the country 
longer than any Mexican administration, save one. He has 
2 



proved to be an enlightened and an able man, of liberal and v 
progressive ideas, fully competent to wear the crown. All the 
central States and large cities acknowledge his authority (see 
table of population, pp. 22-3) ; all the merchants and leading 
men desire to see his throne become permanent, and all admit 
that his government is far better than any that ever preceded 
it in Mexico. If he succeeds, order will reign again ; if he 
should be driven out, anarchy, worse than ever, will prevail, 
because the Republican Generals have lost their influence, their 
troops and their revenues. Even now, in the presence of what 
they choose to call usurpation, they are battling one another. 
Juarez, of his own accord, has extended the time of his admin- 
istration, against the very letter of the Constitution which he 
claims as a guide. Ortega, in the North, has raised the stand- 
ard of revolt, proclaiming himself the legitimate President. 
Each of these leaders has his followers, and it is but logical to 
presume that, were they once alone, blood and carnage would 
follow. 

THE AMERICAN THREAT OF INTERVENTION. 

The chief obstacle in the way of Maximilian is the conduct 
of the American Union, which refuses to recognize him, and 
threatens to expel him. Many of the Mexicans, fearful that the 
Empire will be overthrown by the policy of the United States, 
refuse to commit themselves to it, and the banditti * who claim 
the name of Republicans, can continue their work of pillage 
and murder. The moment that the United States recognizes 
Maximilian, that moment the Juarists will lose half their force, 
moral as well as physical ; the people will at once accept the 
Imperial authority, the Imperial army will advance with more 
spirit ; the Imperial funds will rise ten, twenty or thirty per 
cent, and Mexico will soon have the form of government which 
she should have retained when it was given to her by Iturbide, 
and to which the masses of the people, as we must admit, are 
alone adapted, their social and moral decay precluding the possi- 
bility of the success of any other. 

*Tbe appellation of banditti is justly and properly used. What other name can 
be given to aCortinas, whose punishment, but a few years ago, was demanded 
from Mexico by us, for the cold and bloody murder of American citizens, and 
whom every paper in our country denounced in most emphatic language ? 



19 

We are told that as we are the leading Republic of the world, 
so it is our duty to defend the cause of republicanism against 
monarchy. That doctrine implies that we must be ready at all 
times to engage in war, that we must make it our policy to 
meddle in the domestic affairs of other nations. When we 
once formally avow that policy, we necessarily become the 
guardian and ally, not only of all Republican parties, but of 
all democratic revolutions and rebellions, so that the enemies 
of peace and order will be secure of our protection so soon as 
they hoist the flag or avow the pretense of Republicanism. 
Then we should encourage and foment rebellion and anarchy. 
If we consider it a duty to maintain democratic forms where 
hitherto established, we should also, as a logical consequence, 
undertake to overthrow monarchy, where it exists peacefully, 
and introduce Republicanism. We might assume that a large 
portion of the people of every civilized nation would prefer 
free institutions, and this assumption would furnish a pretext 
when we have once adopted the policy of intervention. If 
we should overthow the authority of Maximilian in Mexico, 
why should we not do as much for that of Victoria in Canada ? 
The Canadian has as many rights as the Mexican, is as near to 
us in geographical position, nearer in blood and language, more 
assimilated to our people, and in every way has as much claim 
on our sympathy and assistance. Cuba and Brazil, also por- 
tions of the New World, are likewise subject to monarchical 
authority, from which we might liberate them. But why should 
distance limit our duties, or why should the western hemisphere 
have stronger claims upon our cooperation than the eastern ? 
Ireland, France and Germany are nearer to us than Chile or 
Peru. If we should declare that it is our policy to intervene 
in favor of Republicanism, we would soon be taught to stay at 
home and mind our own affairs. History is full of lessons for 
those that feel like meddling in foreign quarrels. But even if 
intervention were proper, we should intervene with the right, 
for order, industry, commerce and stable government, not for 
anarchy, retrocession and barbarism. 

MONROE DOCTRINE. 

Again, it is said that we are pledged by the Monroe Doc- 



20 

trine to interfere. Mr. Monroe said our Government would 
consider any European intervention, for the purpose of oppres- 
sing the Spanish American Republics, or of controlling their 
destiny, as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition to 
the United States ; and would consider any attempt on the part 
of Allied Powers to extend their system to any portion of this 
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.' This declar- 
ation was made just after those Republics had attained their 
independence, and when the most sanguine hopes were enter- 
tained of their ability to maintain Republican Government. 
It is evident that the words " to extend their system to this 
hemisphere, ?; were mainly intended to convey the idea that any 
extension of dominion by conquest would be considered as such, 
for surely Mr. Monroe never could have experienced a fear for 
the stability of our institutions if brought into contact with a 
monarchical government. 

In Mexico there is no conquest ; the sovereignty and na- 
tionality are preserved, therefore the doctrine of Mr. Monroe is 
not violated. But it never was the intention of Mr. Monroe 
to pledge the Government of the United States to any course 
of action in future contingencies. The matter was discussed in 
the United States Senate, and the idea that the country was 
pledge,! to intervention on behalf of Republicanism was ener- 
getically repudiated by such leading men as Levi Woodbury, 
Hugh L. White, John M. Berrien and Martin Van Buren and 
was not sustained by anybody of note.* If, however, any 
foolish promise had been given in the past, it is not too late 
now to revoke it. Circumstances have changed between 1823 
and 1866. The Mexican Republic is no longer a hopeful thing 
of the future; but a hopeless thing of the past. It has been 
tried and found wanting. In 1823, the sympathies of the 
friends of liberty throughout the world were with it ; in 1866, 
the sympathies of all the friends of order are against it. It 
has proved itself to be not only a complete failure, but a ter- 
rible scourge. The history of the civilized world may be 
hunted through in vain for a parallel to the forty years of 
Republican misrule in Mexico. A new administration every 

* Au interesting report of tbis debate will be found iu Benton's Abridgment, 
Vol. VIII, page 434 _ 



/ 



21 

year, and a new Constitution every alternate year, all based on 
usurpation, and each worse, it may be said, in general terms, 
than the one which preceded it. Is that the kind of Republi- 
canism that we favor, for which we are to meddle in a foreign 
quarrel? Is that the system which we recommend to other 
nations ? Is that the legitimate result of Federal Republican- 
ism ? 

REPUBLICANISM A MEANS, NOT AN END. 

No ; the American people desire the success of Republican- 
ism only among those peopie who are fitted for it, not because 
it is Republicanism, but because we regard it as the form that, 
after a certain condition has been reached, is the most favor- 
able to education, trade, the formation of manly character, and 
the security of the rights of the people. We care little about 
the means, much about the end. Republicanism in Mexico has 
failed to attain the desired end, and therefore we must wish 
for the success of another system that will give the people there 
the blessings of which they are most in need — that is : peace 
and security of life and property. With us the people form 
the Government ; but in Mexico it is the latter which must form 
the people. 

THE OPINION OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

The opinion of the Government of the United States in re : 
gard to the condition of our southern neighbor was thus ex- 
pressed by James Buchanan, President of the United States, in 
his message at the opening of Congress, in 1858 : 

" Mexico has been in a state of constant revolution almost 
ever since it achieved its independence. One military 
leader after another has usurped the Government in rapid suc- 
cession, and the various Constitutions, from time to time 
adopted, have been set at nought almost as soon as proclaimed. 
The successive Governments have afforded no adequate protec- 
tion, either to Mexican citizens or foreign residents, against 
lawless violence. Heretofore the seizure of the capital by a 
military chieftain has been generally followed by at least the 
nominal submission of the country to his rule for a brief 
period ; but not so at the present crisis of Mexican affairs. 



22 

This country, blessed with a productive 
soil and a benign climate, has been reduced by civil dissension 
to a condition of almost hopeless anarchy and imbecility." 
(Message and Documents, 1858-59, "Vol. I, p. 16.) 

Are we now to stultify ourselves before the world by en- 
deavoring to reestablish " hopeless anarchy and imbecility " in 
the place of order and progress, and that at the "risk of our 
own ruin ? 

MAXIMILIAN THE CHOICE OF MEXICO. 

But it is said that Maximilian is not the choice of the peo- 
ple, and that he did not get the crown in the right way. So 
far as the choice is concerned, the Mexicans have elected him 
as fairly as they ever elected anybody ; and since he has taken 
the throne nearly nine-tenths of the people have submitted to 
him, and all peaceful citizens desire the permanence of his do- 
minion. This is no vain assertion, but the simple truth, mani- 
fested by the numerous adhesions of the principal leading men 
of the ex-Republican government, such as General Uraga, 
Yidaurri, Mendoza, Ampudia, Camano, O'Horan, Quiroga. and 
twenty other Generals that could be named ; ex- Minister 
Payno, ex-Chief Justice Ruiz, together with hundreds of other 
civilians of minor importance, whose adhesions are registered 
in the official journals. 

The following statistics of what were once States and Terri- 
tories imder the Republic will fully confirm the correctness of 
our estimate, and though we have assigned one- third of the 
population of those occupied by both parties to the Liberals, 
it is a well known fact that the Imperialists hold the principal 
cities and towns, whilst the former wander or rest mainly in 
the mountain fastnesses and villages of little or no importance, 
and therefore the allowance is large : 

STATES OCCUPIED BY BOTH PAUTIES. 

Coahuila 67,000 

Nuevo Leon 145.000 

Tamaulipas 108.000 

Micboacan 481.000 

Vera Cruz 338.000 

Tabasco 63.000 

Tehuantepec 80,000 

Sonora 140,000 

Total : 1.422,000 



23 

STATES OCCUPIED SOLELY BY THE EMPIRE. 

San Luis Potosi 390,000 

Zacatecas 303,000 

Aguas Calientes 8(i,000 

Durango i 150,000 

Jalisco 805,000 

Guaoajuato ; 874,000 

Queretaro ' 280.000 

Puebla 657.000 

Oaxaca 531,000 

Yucatan and Canipeche 680,000 

Colima 65J000 

Tiascala 80,000 

Sierra Gorda 55,000 

Isla del Carmeu 12,000 

Distrito de Mexico 369,000 

Mexico (State) 1,012,000 

Total population 6,355.000 

STATES OCCUPIED MOSTLY BY LIBERAL FORCES. 

Chihuahua 160,000 

Sinaloa ' 156.000 

Guerrero 212,000 

Chiapas • 148.000 

Baja California 12,000 

Total 688,000 

Add to the total population of the States solely occupied by 

the Empire, viz 6,355,000 

Two-thirds of the populatiou of States occupied by both 

parties 948.000 

Gives total population under the Empire 7,303,000 

Total population under the Republic 1,162,000 

The population of the different States and Territories,, as 
given above, was ascertained by the census of 1862. The 
population of the Departments into which the country has been 
divided, would show a still larger proportion in favor of the 
Empire, but we are willing to make the calculation on the 
Liberal basis. In the classification of the States we have, also, 
made the estimates in the manner most favorable for the Lib- 
erals. For instance, in the States of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and 
Guerrero the most important places are in the possession of 
the Imperial forces, nevertheless we allow the Liberals all that 
they can claim on that special point. 

Be it observed that in most of the country there are a num- 
ber, more or less, of roving banditti who obey no law, and 
cannot or ought not with justice be entitled to the name of 



24 

Liberals ; they plunder one another, as well as enemies and 
friends. 

EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN IS FAIRLY ELECTED. 

As to the manner in which Maximilian got the crown, no 
fault can be found by anybody 'save an advocate of anarchy. 
In a country where there is no public opinion, where the 
masses of the people have no voice, but a total disregard and 
repugnance for matters appertaining to the Government, and 
have lost all sense of national pride and principle, it was im- 
possible that a monarchy could be established and a monarch 
chosen with more fairness, with more regard for the popular 
wishes or interests, with less selfishness on the part of 
those who had control of the country at the time the change 
was made. But even if there had been gross disregard of 
popular wishes, and usurpation of the throne by mere military 
force, Maximilian would be no worse than the Mexican Presidents. 
The question is now not whether he got the crown according 
to some worthless formality, but whether he is fit to wear it. 
On that latter point, we answer emphatically in the affirmative. 
And even if he were personally an ignorant, mean -tyrant, we 
are still disposed to believe that in the present condition of 
Mexico the worst man as monarch is better than the best as Presi- 
dent. Order is the first requisite for human society. 

SHALL WE EXPEL HIM BY FORCE ? 

There are even some men so silly and foolish as to desire 
that we should take up arms against him. The force of folly 
could not go farther. We have nothing to gain and every- 
thing to lose by such a course. We should be trying t:> im- 
poverish still more a country whose present poverty is to us a 
national misfortune. We would be fighting for vandalism 
against order, for barbarism against civilization — in fact, we 
would be the main champions in an attack on the welfare of 
the human family. 

In a war with Mexico, although. Maximilian is powerless 
to attack us, he is powerful to defend himself. We should 
have to be the aggressors. We should have to invade Mexico. 
The assailant is always at a disadvantage, which increases 



25 

every year with the improvement in arms and fortifications. 
Our transportation alone would cost hundreds of millions. 
Maximilian would fight at home, in self defence, behind breast- 
works, with all the inner linos of communication ; we should 
be abroad, aggressors in the open field, with no convenient 
communication. We should find no Mississippi to transport 
our gunboats, no railroads to carry supplies, no telegraphs to 
convey messages, no negroes to give information. Our army 
would not promenade- through Mexico as it did twenty years 
ago. We should have to face Mexicans, Frenchmen, Austrians 
and ex-Rebels —officers and soldiers as well trained and as well 
armed as our own. But if we are the aggressors on land, 
Maximilian would become the aggressor at sea. His privateers 
would swarm from his ports on both oceans, and American com- 
merce would have another experience like that from 1861 to 
1865, but perhaps still more disastrous to us. We could not 
take all the ports of Mexico. California Avould be the chief 
sufferer. Our steamer lines would be cut off, our commerce 
interrupted, and the price of all our imports doubled, while 
the shipment of our treasure would cost three times as much. 
The annual loss of our State alone by the increased 
value of imports, and the decreased value of exports would 
probably be not less than $15,000,000. 

MEXICO WILL NOT FIGHT ALONE. 

But we have no right to assume, and no reason to believe, 
that we should have to deal with Maximilian alone. The 
French troops in Mexico are in the French service, and under 
the French flag. If we attack Maximilian we attack them, 
and if we attack them we attack France. But what right 
have we to attack her ? She has not broken any treaty with 
us; she has not violated any principle of international law to 
our detriment; she has not injured any of our citizens, or 
taken or damaged any of our property. But, say the advo- 
cates of war, she has violated the Monroe Doctrine. And 
if she has, what of it ? When did she promise to observe 
it ? Have we the authority to dictate to France how she shall 
transact her business with Mexico, especially when we see that 
she undertakes no conquest, but endeavors only to establish an 



26 

orderly and respeGtable government at very considerable risk 
and expense to herself? An administration that provokes a 
■war with France is unfit to rule over a civilized nation. Under 
provocation, her people will stand by the Government, what- 
ever it may be, and woe be to the nation that assails the French 
united in defence of their honor and rights. They are then 
invincible, as all good men must wish that they should be. A 
long struggle with such a great military and naval power 
means commercial, financial and political ruin. We might 
have the mean satisfaction of dragging our enemy down with 
us — the French nation, and the very people who enabled us to 
gain our independence, and to whom we are indirectly indebted 
for all our power and all our prosperity. If any American 
can take pleasure in the contemplation of such a result, we 
are not proud of being his countrymen. 

But it is said the French will withdraw from Mexico in No- 
vember, 1867, and then we can expel Maximilian without in- 
volving ourselves in war with any European power. That 
assumption is by no means a safe one. Napoleon is the guardian 
of Maximilian, and withdraws, as he says, in the expectation 
that the United States will not molest the Mexican Empire. 
He does not threaten war in case we interfere — he is too wise 
for that ; but we can scarcely mistake his meaning. He 
must defend Maximilian against any foreign agression. He 
has loaned the money of the French Government, and induced 
the French people to lend theirs, to the Mexican Empire. He 
has guaranteed one of the loans, and as the expulsion of Max- 
imilian would be equivalent to the repudiation of that debt, he 
cannot with honor permit it. There are, moreover, passages 
in the speeches made by Maximilian when the throne was 
offered to him, and when he accepted the offer, which lead to 
the belief that there are some other formal and binding obliga- 
tions. On the 3d of October, 1863, Gutierrez de Estrada, at 
the head of the Mexican Deputation appointed to invite him 
to become Emperor of Mexico, formally gave the invitation at 
the casjle of Miramar. The Archduke, in his reply, said : 

"However high and noble maybe the enterprise of securing 
the independence and the prosperity of Mexico, under the pro- 
tection of free and permanent institutions, I cannot avoid see- 



21 

ing, in complete agreement with His Majesty, the Emperor of 
the French, whose glorious initiative has made the regenera- 
tion of your beautiful country a possibility, that monarchy 
cannot be reestablished in it unless the prayer of the capital 
is ratified by the whole nation, or a free manifestation of its 
will. Upon the result of a general vote of the country, then, 
in the first place, depends my acceptance of the throne offered 
to me. 

" In the second place, comprehending the sacred duties of 
a sovereign, I must possess, for the Empire which is to be re- 
constituted, the guaranties necessary to 'protect it from the dangers 
which might threaten its integrity and independence. 

" If these guaranties are given to secure the future, and if 
the choice of the noble Mexican people generally fixes itself 
upon my name, fortified by the consent of the august chief of 
my family, and with my trust in the aid of the Almighty, I will 
be ready to accept the crown." 

On the 10th day of April, 1864, Gutierrez de Estrada, to- 
gether with the other members of the Mexican Deputation, 
again presented himself at the palace of Miramar, with the 
certificates of the result of the election in Mexico, and Maxi- 
milian, in replying to his address, said : 

" A careful examination of the acts of adhesion* which you 

* STATISTICAL TABLE, 

Showing the number of inhabitants of the different cities, towns and and villages that had 
given their submission to and were under the Imperial Government when the Mexican 
Deputation offered the crown to H. I. H. the Archduke Maximilian, in Miramar, as 
published in the ' ' Diario Oficial," Mexican official journal, on the 2d of April, 1864. 



States and Territories. 



Number of 
Inhabitants. 



Vera Cruz 

Puebla 

Mexico State 

Mexico District 

Guerrero (part of) 

Queretaro 

Guanajuato y Sierra Gorda. 

Michoacan 

Sail Luis Potosi 

Jalisco 

Zacatecas 

Isla del Carmen , 

Yucatan 

Campeche 

Tehuan tepee 

Aguas Calientes 

Tabasco 

Tamaulipas 

Tlascala 



Total . 



289,000 
553,000 

1,292,000 

61,000 

172,000 

890,000 

360,000 

384,000 

654,000 

16,000 

10,000 

540,000 

84,000 

39,000 

53.000 

42,000 

9,000 

76,000 

5,624,000 



28 

have presented to me, convinces me that the vote of the Assem- 
bly of Notables of Mexico has been ratified, by an immense 
majority of your nation, and that I can with good right con- 
sider myself the choice of the Mexican people. Thus the first 
condition stated in my reply of the 3d of October has been 
complied with. At the same time I mentioned another, that of 
a guaranty for the new Empire, so that it could dedicate its 
energies and quiet to the noble task of establishing its inde- 
pendence and welfare on solid foundations. This guaranty I 
now have, thanks to the magnanimity of the Emperor of the 
French. 

" I trust that we shall prove that true liberty is not incon- 
sistent with the dominion of order ; I will respect the former 
and make others respect the latter." 

Thus, in his first speech he mentioned, as a second condition, 
the guaranties and protection from dangers that might threaten 
the independence and integrity of Mexico, and on his accept- 
ing the crown he clearly states that said guaranties were ob- 
tained. 

Now, what are these guaranties of the independence of 
Mexico ? Does that mean that France will protect Maximil- 
ian against any foreign foe who undertakes to overthrow the 
Empire merely because it is an Empire ? The language will 
bear that interpretation. 

"manifest destiny," annexation. 

There is among the American sympathizers with Juarez 
much of the old longing for annexation, much of the old idea 
that it is the manifest destiny of the American Union to govern 
the entire continent. If we should succeed in driving Maxi- 
milian out of Mexico, they would desire to maintain a srreat 
standing army and annex the country at once. In such a con- 
tingency we would get a bitter lesson about trying to master a 
people of different blood, language, laws, customs and religion, 
who have been accustomed for half a century to civil war. It 
is well known that wherever the Americans and Mexicans have 
met as settlers in California, New Mexico and Texas, a bitter 
antipathy has sprung up between them, and murders on account 
of race have been common. In this State there was often 



29 

danger of civil war, notwithstanding the fact that the Mexi- 
cans were in a small minority and were separated from their 
kindred by the Colorado desert. And yet the population of 
California was far better fitted for incorporation in the United 
States than that of Mexico now is. The Californians had a 
greater proportion of white blood, they were more intelligent, 
they were accustomed to a more orderly government, they had. 
learned more by intercourse with foreigners, and many of the 
leading families were connected by marriage with Americans. 
Half of the Mexicans are pure-blooded Indians, over one-fourth 
are of mixed blood, and not one-fourth are pure white. , We 
could not maintain order with manhood suffrage among the 
Indians, and Ave could not govern them under our system other- 
wise. The annexation of Mexico would be a blunder, and God 
only knows but it might be the first step that would lead us to 
national wreck. Our Government in Mexico could be nothing 
but a military despotism, which would meet with the opposi- 
tion of the truly patriotic Mexicans who still retain but too 
vividly in their memory the remembrance of the past events 
that led to the loss of half their territory. Although some of 
what are called Liberals clamor to us now for aid, the greater 
part of them still nourish a bitter resentment and hatred 
against us. 

AMERICAN INTERESTS DEMAND RECOGNITION OF THE EMPIRE. 

Every consideration that should influence a good and en- 
lightened man in our day is in favor of Maximilian. His 
throne is the shield of order against anarchy, of liberty against 
lawless tyranny, of progress against barbarism, of national 
character and independence against separation and destruc- 
tion. He is not a Mexican by birth, but no native of the country 
could succeed better in his place. He has naturalized him- 
self; he has pledged himself to maintain the integrity of the 
country and to govern in the interest of Mexico ; he relies in 
his administration chiefly on Mexicans ; and he proclaims his 
intention to dismiss all his foreign allies so soon as order is 
securely reestablished. Although the clergy labored actively 
to place him on the throne, he refused to let them dictate to 
him He has confirmed the sale of the church property, made 



by Juarez, and decreed religious toleration. In the matter of 
public improvements, more has been done by him already than 
under any five previous administrations. By an annual sub- 
sidy of $85,000, assigned to B. Holladay, he maintains monthly 
steam communication each way between San Francisco and 
Mazatlan, touching at Guaymas. He employs an American 
steamer which now plies regularly between Mazatlan and Aca- 
pulco, touching at all the principal intermediate ports. He 
pays a subsidy to an American steamer line between Vera 
Cruz and New York, and another line between St. Nazaireand 
Vera Cruz also receives a subsidy. He has granted to Charles 
Arnoux, as the representative of a company of New York 
capitalists, the exclusive privilege for fifteen years of maintain- 
ing a telegraphic line between the City of Mexico and San 
Francisco, by way of G-uadalajara, San Bias, Mazatlan, Guay- 
mas and Lower California, with a branch extending across 
from Mazatlan, through Durango, to Camargo. To another 
company he has granted a franchise for a telegraphic line be- 
tween Guanajuato and Matamoras, by way of Saltillo and 
Monterey. A second line has been constructed between the 
capital and Vera Cruz ; a line has been opened between Cuer- 
navaca and Mexico ; and another between Tehuacan and Oajaca 
has been carried almost to completion. Under the Republic 
twenty miles of railway were completed ; under the Empire 
nearly a hundred have been finished already. The roads 
between Mexico and Vera Cruz, and between Tlascala and 
Puebla are rapidly advancing ; and preparations are being 
made for commencing to grade the lines between Mexico and 
Queretaro, between Mexico and Cuatitlan, and between Tehu- 
acan and. Oajaca. A bank has been established in the capital. 
Numerous financial, industrial and scientific enterprises have 
been projected far too numerous indeed to be enumerated here, 
as a natural result of the general confidence in the restoration 
of order. Among those who have received grants and 
franchises are a number of Americnns from the Northern 
States, showing the desire of the Emperor to live upon friendly 
terms with us. 

All our reasonable hopes for the establishment of a stable 
government on the southern border, for the development of the 



31 

resources of Mexico, for the growth of trade and commerce, 
for the building of railways and telegraph lines to connect the 
regions in the torrid with those in the temperate and frigid 
zones — all are bound up with the success of Maximilian. If 
he succeeds we can expect that progress will be the law of 
Mexico. Schools will be established, popular education will 
become a fact, industrious habits will be formed, communica- 
tion between the seaports and the interior will be speedy and 
cheap, brigandism will be suppressed, life and property will 
become secure ; the silver mines of the Sierra Madre will 
double or treble their annual production ; our traffic with 
Mexico will increase ten-fold, and we shall have a neighbor 
that we can admire and respect. These results may be more 
or less slow in coming, but come they must, and they will come 
the quicker the more encouragement and assistance Maximilian 
receives from those whose duty it is to assist and encourage 
him. The prosperity of the new Empire will be our prosperity. 
With a border line a thousand miles long, and neighboring 
seaports on two oceans, with industry and productions to supply 
all the wants of progressive Mexico, we shall derive far more 
profit relatively than any other nation from its advancement. 
San Francisco and New York can gain much by peace with, 
Maximilian, and nothing by war. Their commerce, their 
manufactures, their shipping, all demand the maintenance of 
order and the encouragement of peaceful industry throughout 
the world. 

Notwithstanding the terrible struggle through which we 
have lately passed, our people have not yet got a proper estr 
mate of the evils of war. War means the arrest of national 
growth, the increase of taxation, the multiplication of tax- 
gatherers, the establishment and perpetuation of odious inqui- 
sitions into private business, the enlargement of the standing 
army, the elevation of the military above the civil authority, 
the shielding of soldiers from punishmnnt for crime, the post- 
ponement of a return to a specie currency, the fluctuation of 
greenbacks, great and sudden changes in business, the inse- 
curity of all branches of trade, the bankruptcy of many, the 
amassing of princely fortunes by a few, the general impover- 
ishment of the poorer classes, the widening of the gap between 
the rich and the poor, the slaughter of the healthy young men 



32 

and the increase of widows, orphans, cripples and puny men. 
These are the results of long wars, carried on abroad ; when 
the tide turns and war visits us at home, horrors too numerous 
and too fearful to be written accompany it. And yet, if we 
wantonly and unnecessarily carry war into the territory of our 
neighbors, .shall we expect always to escape ? That is not the 
course of human destiny ! 

TO PEACE WE OWE OUR SUCCESS. 

It is to peace and our peaceful policy that we owe our great- 
ness. The emigrant has come to our shores confident that here 
he would not be drafted into the army and slaughtered in some 
foolish quarrel which would end, as nearly all wars have ended, 
by injuring both parties without benefit to anybody save con- 
tractors and generals. He has come, confident that he would 
not be taxed to death to sustain a standing army, and that his 
property would not be destroyed by a foreign invader. Our 
commerce has grown in the expectation that our ships would 
not be exposed to capture. Our Government has been consol- 
idated by the superiority of the civil to the military authori- 
ties. Industry and the wealth of the country have advanced 
with unexampled rapidity, partly because there was no large 
standing army to encourage idleness and to feed a great multi- 
tude of idlers at the expense of the laboring classes. 

We are so powerful that we can almost certainly remain at 
peace if we desire it ; and we should desire it, and proclaim 
our desire to all the world. If we intend to invite emigrants 
to come, if we expect to induce our own people to stay, if we 
wish to encourage the investment of capital and the establish- 
ment of new industrial enterprises, we should declare in the 
most emphatic and public manner that our policy is peaceful 
and that we shall never resort to arms, except in some worthy 
cause and in self defense. 

No matter how much the majority of the voters of the 
United States might demand an aggressive war, no administra- 
tion could safely enter into one, if there was a prospect that it 
would last four or five years. The American people do not 
consider themselves bound by elections. The fact that they 
voted for war in one year would not prevent them from voting 
against it the next year. An absolute monarch like Napoleon> 



33 

or an oligarchy like that of England, can carry on war for ten 
or fifteen years and remain firm in purpose ; but the case is 
different with a democracy, where the majority are in danger of 
the draft and have to quarrel with the tax gatherer for their 
last dollar. Notwithstanding the tremendous popular enthusi- 
asm which signalized the beginning of the war for the defense 
of our Union, the elections in the leading States of New York 
and Pennsylvania, a year later, were against the Administra- 
tion, and to a considerable extent against the war, and but for 
the fortunate turn in the tide of success in the midsummer of 
1863, the election of the fall would have been in favor of the 
recognition of the rebels. In 1864 wo had numerous riots on 
account of the draft, frequent cases of resistance to the tax- 
gatherers, and at the Presidential election of 1864 forty-five 
voters out of every one hundred were in favor of McClellan 
and a surrender to the rebels of every point in controversy 
save the unity of our territory. If, in such a sacred cause, the 
people were on the verge of abandoning the contest, how could 
an Administration place confidence in their firmness to main- 
tain a useless and a wanton war ? Our men are too good to 
be slaughtered in war, and they are accustomed to modes 
of living so luxurious that they will not be satisfied with the 
privations of the camp. Besides, our armies have a public 
conscience. They want to know that they are right, that they 
are fighting for some sacred principle, that if their blood is 
shed, it will be for the benefit of mankind. Our men are too 
intelligent to be deceived, and too sensitive to the sympathies 
of humanity to feel like fighting heartily in a cause which their 
own judgment repudiates, and which they know would be con- 
demned in the history of the world. 

The only proper and safe policy for nations is that which 
should govern individuals — that is a strict regard to duty, a 
careful consideration of the rights, circumstances and feelings 
of others, a studious attention to our business, abstinence from 
meddling in the affairs of others, modest and polite demeanor 
even towards enemies, and a love of peace for its own sake. 
The nation, like the person, whose conduct is guided by this 
policy, always commands respect and affection, while any other 
course causes fear and dislike, and hostility that may lead to 
trouble. I trust that my country will be wise and good enough 
to follow the paths of PEACE. 



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